what should a home care provider really be doing?
How To Provide In-Home Care For An Elderly Parent That Refuses Care
Adrian Cano
It is a known fact that many elderly people get somewhat stubborn in their golden years. As an adult, you probably know exactly what this is like because you have a stubborn parent. However, your parent's safety should always take precedence over their own stubbornness, especially if your stubborn parent is diagnosed with Alzheimer's or the first stages of dementia. To provide in-home care for your parent, here is how you can manage their refusals of senior care and their stubbornness.
Bring an in-Home Caregiver with You to "Visit"
Your parent can hardly refuse to see you with company in tow. If you say nothing about this person being a caregiver, your parent may accept the caregiver as just "a friend." As you and the caregiver visit more often and your parent becomes attached to the caregiver, you can begin to leave the caregiver alone with your parent with a reasonable excuse that you have to run errands, or make a quick trip to the store for groceries for your parent. Gradually leave your parent alone with the caregiver for longer stretches until your parent fully accepts the caregiver's regular presence.
Tell Your Parent in Advance That the New "Friend" Is Going to Drop By
The next stage to getting your parent used to having the caregiver around is to call your parent and let him/her know that the new "friend" is going to be stopping by without you along because you are tied up at the moment. Tell your parent it is a safety check that you would normally do if you were not so busy. Make this a more regular occurrence until you do not have to call at all. The caregiver, or "new friend" can just show up at the house and look after things for a bit.
Finally, Let the "New Friend" Have a Key and Your Parent's Telephone Number
At this point, your parent should be fully accepting of this "new friend." Your parent never has to know that the caregiver is an assisted living nurse or aid. Then your parent should be quite content in providing the "new friend" with his/her telephone number and a spare key, "for emergencies." As your parent's memory continues to deteriorate, you may finally share with him/her that this "new friend" is an in-home caregiver. It is likely that it will not be a problem at all since either your parent's ability to recall the conversation will be lost or your parent will like the caregiver too much to be upset.
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If you have a home health care worker in your home, you know very well how helpful he or she can be. What you may not know is what all that worker is supposed to be doing while in your home. Does the service provide general housecleaning services? Should he or she be doing laundry for the one that they are caring for? My blog will show you what services may or may not be offered by home health care services so that you can look further into what the service you have hired is supposed to be doing in your home.